Ticks on a Stick!

I prepared ticks on a stick for my visit to my grandson’s early learning center, Natural Wonders in Poughquag, NY. He really enjoys his class and my daughter in-law who is a Spec Ed teacher is very satisfied with the program.

I decided to make the ticks on a stick because I felt the children might be too young to participate in the full Tick Disease Prevention activities.

The adults raised the Ehrlichiosis, Babesiosis and Lyme signs as the children raised their little ticks on a stick when we came to the words in the song, ”Stay away from that Tick, He’ll make you feel sick…”. It worked great and the children were able to take the ticks, color them and share the information when they got home.

 I also recommended that the teacher place a magnet on the back so the child could place it on their refrigerator and use it to fan themselves during the hot summer. 

Lyme Disease Prevention Poster

This is a picture of my grandson and I at the end of our visit. We are posing in front of the poster I have been adding to as I educate children about Lyme Disease.

Before our session the children each made a thumb print on a small sticky note pad with their names and I added the legs and called them up one by one to place their little tick on the Lyme Disease Prevention Poster.

We had fun!

I also visited Acorn to Oaks, a quality early childhood program in Hopewell Juction NY on the same morning. It was good to see old friends and share with the children about Lyme Disease and how to protect ourselves from those pesky little eight legged ticks.

“Stay away from that tick, he’ll make you feel sick.”

Be Healthy, Ms. Dawn

Update:  Awwww, A Thank-You Poster from Natural Wonders-It is beautiful! Thanks…..I especially love the socks tucked in the pants pic.

Thank-you poster from Natural Wonders

Lyme Disease Prevention is lesson # 5 in “The Singing Nurse-Health Lessons for Kids”

See other posts about Lyme Disease Prevention:

♥ Beware Lyme is Here!

♥ Lyme Disease Prevention for Kids

♥ Hear “The Tick Song”

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Please comment below, what is your Lyme and Tick experiences….Send us your child’s drawing about Lyme Disease Prevention.

I like you, you're fun!

Kids love games and challenges, attention and bonding and unknown to them we can craftily teach them what they need to learn. Here is a simple game to play with kids to help foster good hand washing or hand sanitizing practices, preventing the spread of germs that make us sick and creating an atmosphere of learning and laughter.

Safety pin game:

Remember the games you’ve played at baby showers, this was one of my favorite, it really keeps you on your toes.

1. Collect 5 small safety pins for each person who will be participating. 

2. Attach the pins on outer clothing, you can connect the pins to each other if you like.

3. Set the rules for playing.  Make rules simple for younger children. The older children 5-8 yr olds will enjoy this game the most. Play this game as you go out shopping.

A. Remind the children that when they touch things and then touch their mouth, nose or eyes, this is when germs get into their bodies.

B. The object of the games is to not touch your mouth, nose or eyes with your bare hands, it is OK to use a clean tissue to scratch an itch or wipe a runny nose, just no bare hands.

C. When you see a participant touch their mouth, nose or eyes, that person must give one of their pins to you. You call out-You touched your _____, give me your pin & sanitize. Mom-your job will be to help with the sanitizer after the child touches his forbidden mouth, nose or eyes, a little dab will do ya. Later when you make a potty stop everyone can give their hands a good washing, another teachable moment.

D. The one with the most pins at the end of the shopping trip gets to pick the special activity or treat that you will all enjoy together.

Sooo, items you will need: safety pins, tissues (let each child put a couple in his pocket) and hand sanitizer. 

I like carrying one of the Purell hand sanitizers which has a niffy easy to get to plastic holder that straps to your shoulder strap or a ring on your handbag. The little bottle is easy to refill with your favorite sanitizer.

Hand sanitizer helps prevent germs.

 Other activities you may enjoy to re-enforce learning. Sing a hand washing song.

Name surfaces that may have germs, have an older child write the list as you shop.

Read more posts about hand washing and germ prevention:

♥ H2N1/Swine Flu

♥ Rhinovirus/The Cold 

♥ Strep Throat

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Let us know if you enjoyed this post, we would love to hear from you. Let us know if you and your children enjoyed the germ prevention bonding game. Comment below.

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse

Tick color sheets and graphic sample

Well it is true, the reports are coming in that Lyme and other Tick borne diseases will be higher than ever. We need to protect and teach our children lyme disease prevention. The tick cycle, the small acorn crop and the low count of mice may be some reasons for the increase of Lyme disease this year. Less mice means the ticks will be looking for other ways to feast and that means our children and us.

 Here are a few links that are reporting on Lyme.

Why this year’s tick season will be really bad.

By April Hussar-Today Health

Bracing for a hungry tick season.

By Deborah Weisberg-NYTimes

Don’t forget to stop by our music page to hear “The Tick Song”. Our Lyme Disease Prevention lesson includes a Lyme disease bookmark craft, tick coloring sheet, a full musical production project with signs, costume and props, the kids love learning the silly disease names, Erhlichiosis, Babesiosis and Lyme of course. All of our lessons include TSN sing-a-long songs.

Below is a sample page from “TSN Health Lessons for Kids”, Lyme Disease Prevention-lesson # 5

The Singing Nurse-Lyme Disease Prevention Lesson for Kids

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5 Reasons to connect with TSN:

1. Be inspired and learn to see with a creative eye to nurture kids.

2. Learn how to make artistic projects by recyling home and medical supplies.

3. Learn how to bring the outdoors inside to create beautful art.

4. Receive helpful resources on how to teach kids about life and healthy living.

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Let us know your tick stories, comment below.

For Healthy Kids, Body, Mind and Spirit,

Ms. Dawn

You may like our last Lyme disease post and the adorable toddler in the picture.

 What others are saying about The Singing Nurse music and health lessons.

Having hand sanitizer available for you and your children is a great second choice, have it handy as washing with soap and water is not always accessible. 

Three of the kid hand washing songs are animated, and all the songs are easy to learn. Kids learn well while involving arm movements, melody and rhythms.

Singing a song is like hearing a sermon a thousand times, it will sticks with you as you and your children hum it all day long.  Enjoy!

Happy Hand Washing Song-CDC

Hand Washing Song-Miss Leslie

Rubba Dub Dub, Animated Handwashing Song for Kids-The Singing Nurse

Handwashing Song-Poder Pao

Hand washing is one of the lessons included in “The Singing Nurse Health Lessons for Kids” curriculum. It includes a germ to color, games, the above Rubba Dub Dub video and of course the Rubba Dub Dub song.

Click here for more info.

Click here for curriculum overview.

For Active, Inspired, Healthy kids,

Ms. Dawn

Which one of the songs do you like? What do you do to help your children learn to wash their hands? Please comment below, would love to hear from you.

I Sing with The Singing Nurse!

It seems many people stop by to check out our hand washing lessons and hand washing song. Please check out our list and send us a comment or two.

The post below explains the formatting of our hand washing lesson plan.

Hand Washing Lessons and More

The next post is a tribute to preschool teachers and a bit of my background in early childhood education.

Rubba Dub Dub: Preschool Hand Washing Song, Lesson Plan and Animation

Reasons to wash your hands:

H1N1 another reason to wash hands

Rhinovirus, how to prevent it…#2

Strep Throat another reason to wash hands…#3

The three post above are also available in PDF form. By signing up you can receive free fun activity sheets for kids and information on free PDF’s when they arrive. We’d love to connect with you.

For Healthy Kids, Ms. Dawn

Take a peek:  TSN music in BandBox Player    Overview of TSN Lesson Plans

Sad but true, no matter how hard we try to keep ourselves healthy, stuff still flies. Actually it really does fly, the germs are airborne when we cough and sneeze and can go as far as 12 ft and that’s pretty far.

So how did I start to feel? This may help you especially if you work with children in close proximity or with fragile patients as I do.

Symptoms:

1. My neck started to ache. This is a big clue and in the nursing world, we call it malaise. You start to feel achy and just not feeling up to snuff.  This is usually the first sign of illness that begins the intrusion on your healthy space and you are probably the most contagious at that time.

So what did I do?

I started wearing a face mask at work. I made every effort to not get too close to my patient, especially his face, and of course I washed my hands frequently. Hand sanitizer is a great back-up measure to have available.  Water, soap and friction are your best bets to prevent the spread of germs. And always…..cough or sneeze in your shoulder and…you guessed it, wash your hands again.

Well, now that we have these crummy little colds:

My husband is on antibiotics because his cold developed into bronchitis. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the brochioles which is part of your lungs. Many people have a tendency to develop bronchitis especially people with asthma.

So what are some home remedies to care for and help alleviate your cold and that general stuffed up feeling? Please if you are very ill or have a fever, check with your doctor to receive medical advice and treatment.

1. Drink fluids…We enjoy hot tea with honey and lemon. I put a pot of soup on which is a great way to get your fluids and take in Vit C rich veggies. The recipe is simple and it is good to have these items on hand during the cold and flu season. Of course if you are totally miserable please don’t feel guilty about opening a ready made can of soup, more power to you.

1 Knorr vegetable mix packet: this one also makes a great dip.

Cut up a handful of baby carrots, 1 medium onion, 1 red potato, fresh cilantro, 2 cloves of garlic and add a couple chicken bouillon cubes to about 5-6 cups of water in a pot.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until veggies are done. The whole process takes about 45-60 mins.

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2. I like to take vit C or one of those special fizzy packets you mix with water that has vit C in it at the first sign of a cold.

3. Rest is the best way for your body to heal. Your body is working hard to fight off the germs. I know it is very difficult to rest when you have the responsibilities of work and young children. I used to put up a gate in a safe room that the kids could play in while we watched a DVD, listened to music, read books or watched cartoons. We rested and hung out together.

4. My husband likes to breath in warm steam to help open his airways.

Below are a couple of links you may enjoy about colds.

More interesting facts about cold symptoms and germs.

Home remedies by Donna Cordillo R.N.

About the lungs from KidsHealth.org

And just in case you have not heard The Singing Nurse songs about not spreading germs and washing hands, you might want to check them out, they are great for teaching your children how to protect themselves from germs. The songs are educational and entertaining and your kids will become little “Don’t Spread Your Germs Around” advocates.

Please add a comment below about your winter blues and what you are doing to stay healthy.

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 Ms. Dawn

Hi from The Singing Nurse,

Just created a free dental fun sheet that you can use in a snap. It helps kids learn how to draw happy and sad faces and to choose what makes our teeth happy or sad. Use it during dental health month to spice up your dental lesson plan. 

The Singing Nurse’s dental hygiene and dentist visit lessons includes a fun game which incorporates my fruit and veggie graphics, and of course happy and sad faces.

Both, “I’m Gonna Brush My Teeth” and “The Dentist is a Good Guy” are fun songs to teach kids about good dental care and that the dentist is a good guy.

Happy Brushing, don’t forget to brush your tongue too.

For Healthy Kids, Ms. Dawn

 Click What makes sad happy teeth to get your free PDF activity sheet.

Sign up with your name and email to make sure you don’t miss our updates, notable posts, and helpful resources:

Free PDF’s, Free activity pages for kids and Other creative educational resources, All created to help you educate your corner of the world for life and healthy living. We’d love to connect with you. > > > >

If you have any questions or information you would like to see here, please contact us.

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse

Make a comment below to let us know what you are doing to teach your children about good dental care.

Today I wanted to share a bit about washing our hands and rinsing our bodies off after swimming and beach combing on the shore.  My grandsons really enjoyed both, well not swimming exactly, but wading and chasing the waves for sure. My oldest grandson thoroughly relished amassing a large bag of shells. I was looking forward to a nice walk as we picked up select shells, but being three and a half, the first big pile of beaten shells filled our bag to the brim. It shortened our walk,  but he was so excited about his discovery, how could I halt his enthusiasm to teach him to be pick only the “pretty and perfect” shells, maybe next year.

It sounds like there may be more in the sand and sea to be aware of than what we can see. Washing our hands before we eat our lunch or snacks, even in the great outdoors, is good advice. Make sure to shower off while exiting the beach and before you jump in the pool. It will make more sense as you read on.

You will be interested to find that there are possibilities of bacteria or other biological microbe findings in the sand and sea. I was researching today and found two eye opening posts from the National Geographic News and Oceanus, The Magazine that Explores the Ocean in Depth.

We should be aware of any recent sewage overflow in the area and just because you are in the sun and sand does not mean everything is exactly healthy. So, again I’d like to remind you to wash your hand or bring some hand sanitizer with you to the beach.

Read the National Geographic News post by clicking the link below.

National Geographic News

Cherie Winner from whoi.edu says:

Read the whole article by clicking on the link below.

Shifting Sands and Bacteria on the Beach by Cherie Winner

**If you missed my last post about hand washing and feeding the stingrays, click here.

**You may enjoy a short post about shoes, travel and hand washing, click here.

**More info and an Animation teaching young children about Hand Washing, click here.

Sign up with your name and email to make sure you don’t miss our updates, notable posts, and helpful resources:

Free PDF’s, Free activity pages for kids and Other creative educational resources, All created to help you educate your corner of the world for life and healthy living. We’d love to connect with you. > > > >

If you have any questions or information you would like to see here, please contact us.

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse

Click hear to watch a video from the Aqua Kids to learn more about stingrays right from the center.

We especially enjoyed feeding the stingrays. We were given some interesting info about stingrays then told to wash our hands.  Hand washing was very important in order to remove any lotions or sunscreen.

                                                                  Ms. Dawn feeds the Stingray!

The kids and grandma really enjoyed the stingray feeding and you can be sure we washed our hands afterwards as well. Hand washing is important to both animals and people. Proper hand washing keeps us all healthy.

       Hungry Stingray!                                                                    Brave little hands feed the Stingray!

Sign up with your name and email to make sure you don’t miss our updates and helpful resources:

Free PDF’s, Free activity pages for kids and Other creative educational resources, All created to help you educate your corner of the world for life and healthy living. We’d love to connect with you. > > > >

If you have any questions or information you would like to see here, please contact us.

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse

Other posts you may like about hand washing.

Rhinovirus a reason to wash hands

Strep Throat a reason to wash hands

Click hear to listen to The Singing Nurse Health Songs for Kids!

She arrived on a flight from Tennessee and walked through the halls of one of our great NY airports.

Ooo, no matter how cute you think your shoes are and how often you put them on, please don’t forget where they have been. Wash your hands! Washing our hands is the most effective way to avoid germs and the illness they may carry. Please educate your children about proper hand washing. We can help….

Sign up with your name and email to make sure you don’t miss our updates and helpful resources:

Free PDF’s, Free activity pages for kids and Other creative educational resources, All created to help you educate your corner of the world for life and healthy living. We’d love to connect with you. > > > >

If you have any questions or information you would like to see here, please contact us.

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse